Unit History: RAF Hospital Wroughton

The RAF General Hospital as it was known then opened on 14 June 1941 under the command of Gp.Capt. EC Foreman. By October 1943 eight additional wards had been constructed. At the end of March 1944 the bed capacity was raised to 1000 – SECO hutting with inter-connecting corridors added a further 350 beds. Wroughton’s busiest period followed the allied landings in Normandy on D-Day. The first casualties arrived on 13 June, landing at RAF Lyneham and being ferried by a fleet of ambulances to Wroughton.
A team of 8 medical officers met the casualties and assessed the treatment required before the men were taken to the wards by Italian PoW porters. In the 6-months following D-Day 4,811 casualties passed through Wroughton.
Wroughton continued as a General Hospital treating military patients, and from 1958 took NHS cases as well to relieve backlogs in the Swindon area.
Following a visit to the hospital by Princess Alexandra on 4 July 1967, the Queen conferred the prefix “Princess Alexandra’s” on the hospital on 4 October 1967.

Memories of RAF Hospital Wroughton

(Memories written by members of Forces Reunited)

RAF Hospital Wroughton in 1961

Written by Joan Davies

There we were at RAF HospitalWroughton in the swinging sixties. Here we are now in our swinging sixties. There is a continuous line between the two eras. A line of memories of the people we met and the friends we made.If you were at Wroughton relive those old memories and join our reunion.